HP Helps SMBs Modernize IT Infrastructure to Support Growing Mobile Use

New solutions improve customer service, productivity

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- HP today announced new products and services that help small and midsized businesses (SMBs) simplify their IT infrastructure to accelerate business gains from mobile access.

The use of mobile devices in the workplace allows for sophisticated business and process management applications to be accessed remotely, ensuring productivity remains consistent regardless of location. However, SMBs traditionally have static and fragmented IT infrastructures, making it difficult to rapidly or efficiently respond to infrastructure demands driven by a mobile workforce and virtualized applications.

To simplify IT management for SMBs and ease the transition to a modern infrastructure, HP has expanded the HP Converged Infrastructure portfolio with new storage and network solutions that improve employee productivity by providing secure access to business applications and data via mobile devices. In addition, HP is offering financing and training programs that address SMBs’ end-to-end mobility challenges by enabling them to acquire the resources needed to boost business responsiveness in the evolving mobile marketplace, quickly and easily.

“Mobility will soon be a normal part of every SMB workplace, as it moves from being used primarily for email to supporting critical business applications such as CRM and sales inventory,” said Robert Anderson, vice president, Research, Gartner, Inc. “Small and midsize businesses must align and modernize their existing IT capabilities to take advantage of the business benefits and competitive differentiation mobility brings.”

Modernizing storage in a mobile world

Data growth and application demands are evolving as mobility continues to drive an explosion of data and changes the way applications are used and accessed. SMBs need simple, scalable and economical storage platforms that respond to these new requirements, while also supporting dynamic workloads and rapid growth of both structured and unstructured data.

HP is offering new storage solutions that provide scalability, reliability and availability to handle evolving business demands. The new offerings include:

HP StoreVirtual Storage, based on the HP LeftHand operating system and HP ProLiant Generation 8 (Gen8) technology, is a scale-out storage platform with flexible deployment models to support virtualization requirements. The offering includes features that allow SMBs to add physical storage without disruption and the ability to simply move data across virtual or physical storage with just a few clicks, enabling IT to nondisruptively increase storage requirements.

HP StoreEasy Storage is a single integrated storage solution that supports file and application workloads with built-in deduplication and encryption. Midsize businesses can no longer afford to add “just another file server” to address the explosion of unstructured data from mobile devices. Native Windows® integration enables SMBs to immediately configure and manage HP StoreEasy Storage without learning a new proprietary storage management system. HP StoreEasy Storage supports 10,000 users in a three-unit form factor, as well as multiple workloads from a single, consolidated platform that is cost-efficient, highly secure and reliable.

HP Financial Services offers qualified SMBs access to HP solutions without payments for 90 days on lease transactions or to lease select HP equipment at a less-than-zero implicit lease rate. This offering provides SMBs with flexible financial solutions to cost-effectively update their infrastructure.

Mobilize workers with simplified network management

SMBs, as well as government agencies, are supporting a growing mobile workforce that requires access to rich-media and bandwidth-intensive applications such as videoconferencing. However, with limited financial and human resources, these organizations need solutions that are easy to use, reliable and cost-effective to maintain.

The HP M220 streamlines wireless network management with “clustering” technology that enables SMBs to deploy and manage up to 10 network access points as a single entity, rather than a series of separate wireless devices. Clustering technology enables IT administrators to easily deploy and configure new rich media applications as well as add wireless devices to the network without downtime. In addition, the solution improves network security by detecting rogue access points as well as reducing security risks caused by misconfigured access points.

The HP M220 includes a Quick Setup Wizard that leverages an easy-to-use web interface to streamline multiple access point configuration. The Quick Setup Wizard provides five deployment scenarios, allowing clients to select the best wireless network environment for their company.

Collaborating with HP, the technology expert

With access to a broad range of technologies and programs, SMBs can simplify IT operations to improve employee productivity. These offerings include:

The updated HP Client Virtualization SMB Reference Architecture for Citrix VDI-in-a-Box supports 50 percent more users(1) than the previous version. It reduces the cost and complexity of deploying desktop virtualization, allowing employees to securely and remotely access desktops, applications and the company’s server anywhere, anytime from any client device. Critical user data is saved on the server instead of the mobile device, ensuring it is not lost, stolen, damaged or pirated.

The HP Learning Initiative for Entrepreneurs e-Learning (HP LIFE e-Learning) program provides cloud-based online training sessions at no additional cost, to improve key IT and business skills from anywhere and any device. HP LIFE e-Learning now offers e-mentorship with HP professionals, along with webinars and other relevant resources with emphasis on leveraging mobility to drive growth.

Pricing and availability(2)

The new HP StoreVirtual Storage 4130 and 4330 models will be available Dec. 4, with a starting price as low as $11,500.

HP LeftHand Operating System 10.0 software will be available at no additional cost to current HP LeftHand P4000 G2 platform clients on Dec. 4.

The HP StoreEasy Storage system will be available on Dec. 10, with a starting U.S. list price of $5,192 for 8TB capacity.

The HP M220 Series Access Point is expected to be available through HP and its authorized channel partners on Nov. 12, with a starting U.S. list price of $389. Shipments will commence in December 2012.

(1) New tiered storage approach tested in HP and Citrix labs resulted in per-server user support increasing from 50 to 75 users over previous solution.

(2) Estimated U.S. list prices. Actual prices may vary.

Microsoft and Windows are U.S. registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.

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